After Dawn
by bkay13
Summary: "Damon seemed to make her switch between understanding and frustration within seconds..." Elena Gilbert is a nurse on Pearl Harbor when she starts to develop feelings for the dark haired, blue-eyed pilot Damon Salvatore, a man that also happens to be her boyfriend Stefan's childhood friend. But will she let herself act on them? Based on the movie Pearl Harbor. All human.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: The beginning

_* So just to give you a little background...I'm basing this fanfic on the movie Pearl Harbor. All rights to this go to the makers/creators/writers/owners/ and actors of the movie Pearl Harbor and the television show The Vampire Diaries. Hope you enjoy! *_

Stefan swears underneath his breath. The letters on the eye chart just keep switching back and forth; he can't keep a hold on them.

"It's going to be fine," Damon tells him from behind. Stefan turns around to meet his gaze. Damon's encouraging look only last for a moment before an impish grin spreads across his face. "Just seduce her," his eyes glint as he nods towards the nurse doing the charts. Ahead of them, a pretty brunette sits at a table, making notations as each man in line carefully reads the letters off the eye exam chart. "I'm sure she'll do anything for you if you just take off your shirt...maybe dance on the table..."

Stefan just shakes his head. "Seriously?" He hisses, cutting Damon off. He turns back towards the charts, his worried look staying firmly in place. Despite his best efforts, the letters start to swim again.

"Fine, fine," Damon sighs. "It's only because I'm your best friend that I'm even deigning to go through this for the _fiftieth _time." He starts running through the letters on the bottom line methodically, if not a bit sarcastically. "A, O..."

But then he's interrupted by the call of the brunette nurse.

"Next," she says. Stefan freezes for a moment before Damon shoves him from behind and he stumbles forward. Before she can even tell him instructions, Stefan darts into the list, frantic he'll forget.

"A, O, I, Q.." He rambles on, only pausing for a moment, but Damon quickly whispers the next letter at him from behind. "P, R, B"

"Slow down, soldier," the nurse interrupts. She barely looks up from her chart; he watches as her pencil scratches across the paper. "Read the line _above_ the bottom one, and from right to left this time."

...

Damon holds his breath as Stefan squints warily at the chart. Great. Just great. He is going to leave Damon all alone in this war, and only because he can't read a simple eye chart in order to pass his medical examination.

"T," Stefan says. Then, giving another skeptical look, he suddenly blurts out "J. No it's definitely J."

The pretty brunette behind the desk raises her eyebrows at Stefan. She doesn't look like the type to be pushed around. He briefly entertains the thought that she won't fall for the sob story Stefan's about to tell, but the thought doesn't last long. They always fall for Stefan; Damon tries not to be too bitter about it. They had gotten into fights about girls before, but they hadn't lasted long. None of their fights ever did. The fact was, Stefan had stuck by him ever since he could remember. They were friends, the kind of friends that nothing could separate.

"P," Stefan continues hesitantly. "Rrrr, no. No, it's...it's..." Damon watches as the nurse continues to stare. Stefan really is failing at this. He holds his breath, but then Stefan launches into a heartfelt monologue as if on cue.

"It's not what you think it is," he blurts. "I can see, really. It's just that sometimes, " he gives the chart a hateful glance, "sometimes the letters just get mixed around, that's all."

The nurse bobs her head to look at his chart. "It says here that you barely passed the written exam," she reads skeptically.

Damon takes this as a cue. He has to do _something._ If Stefan's charm was failing, then they were really in trouble.

"Yes," he says, stepping forward, "but he did pass it." He tries to keep his words optimistic, but they come out more snarky than he intended.

"Soldier get back in line," she orders. "It's not your turn." The words aren't harsh, just sort of matter of fact. He thinks maybe he had saw a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth as she said them, but he can't be sure.

She sure is pretty. Maybe, if she passes Stefan, he'll find her afterwards and talk to her. Get her name.

"Listen," Stefan begins, "I know what this looks like, but when you're flying, you don't need letters or numbers or gauges. It's all feeling..."

Damon stops listening somewhere in the middle of Stefan's sickeningly heartfelt speech, instead staring intently at the nurse. At Stefan's words, her face is beginning to soften, her eyes beginning to warm.

She is indeed beautiful.

When Stefan finishes his story, the nurse glances down on her charts once more. Then raising the stamp on the table before her, she presses it down on his chart before handing it back to him.

"Next!" she calls again. Stefan glances down at his charts. For a second, Damon feels a fleeting sense of panic. If Stefan didn't pass...but then Stefan leans closer to the nurse and says a heartfelt thank you. His eyes are shining with pleasure. So she passed him then.

Stefan turns around, sliding past Damon. "Think I'll go for her just like you said," he whispers in Damon's ear with a grin. Then he saunters off to the next station.

Damon sighs as he steps forward. Figures. The only girl he'd had the desire to go after since Catherine and Stefan had already laid claim to her. Oh well. It was probably too soon anyway.

God forbid he got his heart broke again.

Her eyes meet his for a moment. Big and wide and a deep, lasting brown. He feels a twinge inside of him.

"Read the bottom line," she says to him, all business.

So he does. He speeds through the letters, grinning wryly the whole while. Its not like he has them memorized or anything.

She raises her eyebrow when he hardly has to glance at the eye chart, but she doesn't say anything. She just stamps his files and beckons him forward.

He reaches out to grab the chart, his fingers brushing hers. She glances up in surprise, and he shoots her a pointed stare, the smile dropping off his face.

"Have a good day," he says quietly, and then he leaves her there, still looking up at him with a question in her eyes.

Stefan's girl and all. He snickers to himself. Probably a good thing. If not, he might have been tempted to dance on the table for her like he had proposed to Stefan.

And that would most likely be frowned upon.

*_So what do you guys think? Leave me a review and let me know how I'm doing!*_


	2. Chapter 2: New York

Chapter 2: New York

_*Just to restate...all rights go the the writers/owners/producers/actors of the Vampire Diaries and the movie Pearl Harbor.*_

Elena stares out the window as the scenery flies by. New York. She had never been to New York City before. Her heart flutters with anticipation. Tall, glittering buildings, signs lit up like a million bucks...and Stefan. Stefan would be there. Ever since the day he had convinced her to pass him through his medical examination, he had been pursuing her with sweet, gentle advances. She thinks of his green eyes, his broad shoulders, his messy hair.

She is pretty sure she is falling in love.

In the seat next to her, Caroline's voice cuts through her thoughts as she chats away to April.

"Pearl Harbor!" she shrieks with happiness. "Stationed to Pearl Harbor! You know what nurses do there, April? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Treat patients with sun burn that's what." She starts laughing. "Just think... us, an empty hospital, a beach, and loads and loads of men, all walking around..." she trails off with a dreamy expression. Then, as if suddenly remembering, she turns to Elena with a sly smile.

"Not Elena here, though," she informs April. "She's got herself a man all lined up." Her eyes glint mischievously with her teasing. "A pilot in the air force, stationed to Pearl Harbor as well. What are the odds?"

Rebekah looks up from her nails. "This man got friends?" she asks with a raised eyebrow.

Elena laughs at her loaded question.

"Yes he has friends. Plenty. I'll be all too happy to introduce you."

April sighs happily. "Signing up has got to be the best thing I've ever done," she says, twirling her dark hair around her finger with a far away expression.

Just then the train pulls to a stop. The girls start cramming the window, looking for a view of something, anything.

"I can't see anything but trains," Caroline whines. Then she gasps. "Look Elena!" she says breathlessly.

Elena shoves her way to the window. "Stefan," she whispers excitedly. She knew he had been riding the train as well; they were going to the same place after all, but that still doesn't take away from the surprise.

"Where?" Rebekah says, craning her neck impatiently. "Which one's him?"

There's a mob of men outside the window now. Elena doesn't pause to point Stefan out. She jumps up out of her seat, making her way to the exit.

New York awaited her.

...

Stefan twirls her around, shooting her a daring smile. Her heart drops in a pleasant, throbbing manner under his intense gaze.

She ends up back in his arms, not at all dizzy from the spin, but light headed from her happiness and maybe the alcohol.

They had been put up in a hotel until they could be shipped out to Pearl Harbor, and with nothing to do until then, the rest of Stefan's outfit and the girls in hers had been partying since they arrived.

She can't remember when she had ever had a better time.

The crowd whirls and sashays around her; an ever-changing array of colors and patterns. There's a general buzz of reckless happiness, of celebrating until the world falls in around them. Next to her, Caroline is entangled is some man's arms, her blond hair tumbling behind her.

"Isn't this great?" she mouths to Elena over the din of the music.

Elena laughs in response, but then Stefan pulls her off onto a different section of the dance floor, and she loses sight of Caroline. Before she knows it, the song softens, becoming slower. Stefan presses her body even closer to the warmness of his own. She looks over his shoulder, watching as every couple twirls slowly to the soft whine of the blues tune.

She relaxes contently, letting her body be supported by the strength and sureness of his. Her eyes lazily wander the room, taking in the splendor, the wildness of it all. She notices a couple of the girls in a corner booth, surrounded by guys. She suddenly recognizes one in particular.

"That's Damon, right?" she asks Stefan after a moment, and he spins her slowly until he can see where she's looking.

"Yeah that's him," he confirms.

"So what's the story on him?" she asks quietly. "He looks a little shy around the ladies." Or maybe aloof would be a better word. Despite the roaring laughter stemming from the corner booth, as far as she can tell, he hasn't spoken a word yet.

"Shy?" Stefan laughs at this. "No never shy. Trust me he could have any girl in this room if he wanted."

"So what's holding him back?" she asks, curious.

Stefan shoots Damon another glance. "He's had a rough time of it since he broke up his last girl," he confides. "Or rather, since she left him. And his childhood wasn't always...easy. He didn't really have much of a family...He's kind of unsure now. I think it's going to be hard for him to trust again."

"But he trusts you," Elena points out.

"Yes," Stefan says quietly, "he trusts me." He takes her into another slow spin. This time when she lands in his arms, his hands are much lower than they were earlier. All thoughts of Damon are forgotten.

"Soldier," she reprimands with a soft smile, "I think your hands have drifted a bit...south."

His voice whispers in her ear, his warm breath playing across her neck. "They do seem to have lost a little... altitude."

She goes to answer but all the breath has left her chest. The things he made her feel...

And then the song ends. Someone starts speaking into the microphone, ending the flow of the music. She pulls away reluctantly, knowing that her cheeks are still flushed.

For a second, they both stand there, eyes locked together, but Stefan's head jerks as if remembering something, and then he pulls out his watch. "It's time," he says.

"Time?" she asks, still breathless.

"Yes," he smiles excitedly, "time! Here you talk to Damon," he starts pulling her over to the booth, "while I go get some things...be right back..." And before she knows it, she is awkwardly standing right next to Damon's booth. Unfortunately, all of the other people crowding it seem to have gotten up for another drink.

"So..." she says, sliding into the booth across from him, trying to break the silence. "It's Damon, right?" She already knows the answer, but can't think of any other way to start the conversation.

He looks up from his glass of bourbon, his ice blue meeting hers across the table. His dark colored hair flops messily across his forehead; his muscles tighten slightly in his arm as he grasps his glass. _He's very handsome,_ she thinks, and her blood warms at the thought. She waits for him to smile in greeting, but when he finally does his smile is more mocking than friendly .

"So you're Stefan's new girl," he observes, his eyes finally breaking away from hers as he lifts his glass up to his lips. He takes a swig, and when he sets the glass down, it clinks on the table top.

"Elena," she offers, not quite sure if she likes being referred to as _Stefan's girl._

"Right," he responds. His teeth flash white underneath the lights. "Stefan's girl."

For a moment, she is stunned silent by his rudeness. She feels her blood begin to warm even more. "Excuse me?" she asks finally, narrowing her eyes. "If you didn't hear me correctly, it's _Elena._"

Her spunk surprises her. Where did that come from?

His eyebrows raise at her tone. "You know, _Elena,_" he says, accentuating her name tauntingly, "you should be more careful."

She understands that this is Stefan's best friend. She understands that for some reason or another, he is going through a hard time. She understands that Stefan just wants them to get along. But he's making her _angry._ It's unsettling; she usually doesn't get angry this easily.

"And why is that?" she retorts, her voice ice cold.

"I am Stefan's best friend, for one," he begins, "and being his best friend, Stefan usually listens to my advice. It wouldn't be that difficult for me to _advise_ him to stay away from a certain girl named Elena." His eyes sparkle with the threat.

For a moment, she just studies him. Takes stock. "Stefan told me about you," she says finally. _He's kind of unsure of himself now...His girlfriend left him for another man. I think it's going to be hard for him to learn how to trust again..._

"Oh?" he asks, settling back further into the booth across from her.

She leans over the table, not letting him get away with his subtle retreat. "And I know this might be hard for you," she continues, "but someday you're going to have to learn to trust again. You could start by trusting me."

He starts at first, the sudden intimacy of her words surprising him. But coldness soon replaces his surprise, and his eyes go dark. "Trust goes two ways," he says bitterly, ripping his gaze from hers.

"I understand that," she tells him. "Which is why I'm trusting _you _to do the right thing and tell Stefan what you really think of me." She sits back again, her sudden urgency gone.

He gave a short burst of laughter. "So that's what you want. And how do you know that you want Stefan to hear what I really think about you?"

"Because I trust you, Damon." The words, although a repeat of her earlier statement, make him freeze cold. At that moment, Stefan returns, approaching the their table with quick, strong steps.

"Elena," he smiles. "Ready?" She turns to him, smiling back in return.

"Of course," she says. He holds out his hand, and she slips hers into his grasp. Right before they start to leave, she turns back to Damon.

"Nice talking to you, Damon," she says politely. Stefan turns back as well.

"Talk to you later, Damon?" he asks.

"Later," Damon confirms. Then, Stefan and Elena walk out of the club and leave Damon at the table all by himself.

*_So thank you to everyone who everyone who followed, favorited, or reviewed so far! I'm still not sure how far I'll take this...but if y'all like it I'll do my best to keep writing out chapters. Oh and don't expect new chapters quite this soon...I'm usually not this fast but I decided to add another chapter to get things going a little bit! Thanks again...hope you enjoyed! :) Leave me a review if you did! *_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: No Such Thing as Love at First Sight

_*Okay so I know I told you guys I wouldn't be updating every single day...which I won't once I start my job in a couple days...but right now I'm on vacation. And I've had a little extra time to write...so here's the next chapter. Enjoy! (And I still don't own anything) *_

Elena's hand feels warm in Stefan's grasp. Content flows through her, warm and liquid like.

"Where are you taking me?" she giggles, gazing up at him.

"Shh," he tells her, holding a finger up to his lips teasingly. "It's a secret."

She drops her voice to a whisper. "Can you tell me now?" she says softly, drawing closer to him.

He laughs. "Definitely not," he whispers in her ear. "You'll just have to wait and see."

His warm breath against her ear makes shivers run down her spine. "Okay," she manages.

"It'll be worth the wait," he tells her, his voice still full of laughter. A taxi cab pulls up to the curb; Stefan quickly steps forward before she can move and opens the door. He helps her in before turning to close the door behind him.

Despite the length of the back seat, they sit close, their legs warm where they press together.

"So," Stefan says, "I'm sorry I had to leave you there for a moment but...What did you think of Damon?"

His question catches her off guard. "Damon?" she repeats just to buy herself some time.

"Did he give you a hard time?" Stefan inquires. His hand reaches out, his fingers brushing her chin before he gently turns her face towards his.

"No," she says shaking her head. "He was a perfect gentleman," she lies. Why she is lying she doesn't know. She doesn't have to. It's not like she had promised Damon that she would give Stefan a glowing report of his behavior. As it was, she isn't even sure if Damon planned to do the same for her.

"Really?" Stefan raises an eyebrow.

"I trust him completely," she tells him, even though she knows her words will sound odd. She only just met Damon after all, and he didn't exactly come off as the trustworthy sort at first glance.

Stefan laughs. "Okay," he manages, "I'm not even going to pretend to know what you mean by that, but I'm glad you like him." His hand moves to rest on her knee, and she feels her heart flutter just a beat. "And now that's over...on to bigger and better things."

"Such as?" she pries.

"Such as your surprise," he tells her, face glowing. At his words, the taxi cab rolls to a stop. She peers out the window, still not seeing the surprise.

"We have to walk a little bit," Stefan warns her, reaching out for the door handle.

He gets out and turns back to her, holding out his hand. She places hers in his, her heart fluttering.

This can't be real, she thinks. Her, New York, Stefan... This can't be real. But it is.

...

They had all moved up to Damon's hotel room sometime in the middle of the night, and they are all quite roaring drunk, himself included. There's lots of people around him, warm bodies pressing together. Some he knows, some he doesn't. Music is drifting from the radio in the corner, and people are dancing all around him in a blur of bodies and colors.

There's a blond sitting on his lap; he can't remember her name. Her lips are full and red, her eyes a sparkling blue. Her body is curved and perfect, and his hands are resting on her thighs.

She's telling him some sort of story, having to raise her voice about the hubbub when Stefan walks in.

"Wow," Stefan grins, looking at the mass of people from the doorway. He pulls Elena in behind him; they're holding hands. They look fairly happy, although there's a shadow beneath both their eyes. He can tell. Obviously it has nothing to do with their relationship, because just then Elena turns to Stefan with a warm, shining gaze.

Catherine used to look at him like that.

"Let's get out of here," Damon murmurs to the blonde, pulling her up off his lap. She stirs with a smile, grabbing his hand and pulling him through the throng. "I have a room," she calls behind her as she clears a path. "It's empty."

They push by Stefan and Elena as they hit the doorway.

Stefan raises his eyebrow. "I'm going to her room," Damon yells at him with a grin as the blonde tugs him out the doorway. He smirks. "Don't expect me back in our room tonight anytime soon."

Stefan says something, but it's lost in the crowd. The blonde has pulled him down the hallway, opening the door to her room. She's right; it's empty. She giggles as she shuts the door behind them and turns to push his body down on the bed, wasting no time before she has her legs straddled around him.

"You're in love, aren't you?" she says in a breathy whisper. She leans into him, her body warm and inviting.

Her question surprises him, but all he does is snort. "Thought I was," he tells her. "That's long over now."

"Really?" she says, sitting backward so she can meet his eyes. Her disbelief is obvious; she thinks he's lying.

He laughs shortly. "Why do you find that so hard to believe, babe?" he inquires. His hands slide down, grabbing her hips and pulling her closer to him.

"Because of the way you looked at _her," _the blonde whispers, dropping her face close to his ear. Her warm breath flutters over the side of his face.

"Her?" he repeats, his eyebrow raising.

"Her," the blonde says again. "That brunette that just walked through there."

"Her?" Damon asks incredulously. He laughs again. "You thought very, very wrong. I only just met her."

"And you don't believe in love at first sight?" Blondie whispers.

"No," he says incredulously. "Please tell me you don't?"

"Just because," she says, her voice low, "I don't know your name and you don't know mine, and just because all there is between us is mutual lust..." she grins devilishly, "doesn't mean that I don't believe in love at first sight." She leans in, pressing his back down into the bed, letting her lips hover above his.

"You're hopeless," he laughs, moving in, ready to make their lips meet.

She pulls back at the last second, smiling at his disappointed expression. "Maybe," she says, "but..." and she holds up one finger in warning, "before we start our night of fun, you have to promise me something."

"Okay?" he asks.

"Promise me you'll go after that girl. It looks like she was taken, I know, but you shouldn't sell yourself short."

"Let me get this straight," Damon says. "Even though I'm doing _this_, you think I should go after _her._"

Blondie shrugs. "I saw how you looked at her. I'm good at reading people."

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you babe," he tells her, "but she's taken by someone that I wouldn't dream of stealing her away from." He smiles at her, but the effect falls flat.

"And why is that?"

"Because he's my best friend," Damon explains.

"Ahhh," the blonde responds. Her lips turn up, her teeth glinting. "I wouldn't let that stop me."

He shakes his head at her. "That's naughty," he grins slyly, slipping his hands underneath her shirt and tugging it up over her head.

"Maybe," she responds as her shirt falls to the floor. She reaches up with her fingers, moving to undo the buttons on his shirt.

"I think I like you," he tells her, before crushing her lips underneath his own.

And pretty soon, even the lovely Elena is eradicated from his mind.

*_So thanks again for following, reviewing, etc! I love ya'll so very much :) And I may or may not have the next chapter already written...and it may or may not include another Damon and Elena interaction...so if you liked this drop me a review and I might think about updating sooner than I already was :)* _


	4. Chapter 4: Not Nearly Drunk Enough

Chapter Four: Not Nearly Drunk Enough

_*Here's the next chapter...early as promised :) And once again, I own nothing!*_

He stumbles down the hallway. He's pretty sure his unsteadiness is more from tiredness and less from alcohol...the warm, pleasant feeling that earlier had been present in his veins has faded now. He hopes the room is empty. Suddenly he's tired of partying and women and god knows what else and all he feels like doing is sleeping for a month.

But that's when he sees her.

She's crying softly, her knees pulled up to her chest and her hair making a curtain around her face. Her shoulders are shaking up against the hallway wall.

He's suddenly filled with a vague sense of rage. Why does she have to be here right now? All he wants is some sleep, but curse his luck, he finds Stefan's girl crying in the hallway.

It can't be because of Stefan. No, Stefan is always good to his girls. Sweet and caring and all that crap. It's Damon who is destructive and dark and usually ends up breaking hearts. Not Stefan.

Then what?

For a moment, he hopes that he will be able to walk by her without being noticed. But then she looks up with those brown orbs of hers and stares at him through her tears.

"What's the matter?" he asks, unable to keep the slight snarl of sarcasm from his voice. "Stefan give you one rose short of a dozen?"

His gruffness sends her into another batch of sobbing. He fights down a slight sense of guilt. He wasn't nice, so what? She should get used to it.

"He didn't tell you yet, did he?" she asks brokenly when the wave of salt water has slowed down a bit.

Her words give him pause.

"Tell me what?" Her silence is deafening. "Here!" he exclaims suddenly, eyes wide with playful mocking. "I've got it...Stefan forgot to shave again, didn't he?" Damon shakes his head with faked sorrow. "He does know how those whiskers irritate you...how could he forget?"

She tips her head up, looking at him as if she's searching for something in his soul that probably isn't there.

"Maybe you won't care," she says bitterly, ripping her gaze away and returning it to the elegant pattern scrolling across the hotel's carpet.

His demeanor changes in an instant at her words. "About what?" he asks sharply. She ignores him. He feels a flutter of panic, but he swallows it as quickly as he can.

"Elena," he implores. "About what?"

He tries not to notice how her name tastes in his mouth. It's not the moment to be thinking of such things... It's not important. She's Stefan's girl, remember? _Stefan's girl..._

"He's leaving," she finally whispers. "Stationed overseas. He's not coming with us to Pearl Harbor...he's going right into the middle of it." She sounds hallow with her grief, sad until the point of emptiness.

"Wait...what?" His words sound strange falling into the air...he can recognize his own desperation in them now, hidden right underneath his urgent disbelief.

"In the RAF Eagle squadron," she continues sadly.

He slides down the wall until he's sitting next to her.

"No...they can't do that can they? Elena?"

The States aren't in the war yet, so he hasn't really worried about it, not till now anyway. He knew it would come sooner or later...but still...

He can literally _taste_ it now, the _fear_. It's shining out of Elena's perfect eyes, all too apparent.

His fear is different than hers, and yet all too similar. Stefan might be the love of her life, but to him, Stefan is like...his brother. Closer than a friend, that's for sure. They had grown up together, experienced just about everything the world had to offer them together. And then the war...Damon knew the possibilities. They both did...it wouldn't be long before the U.S. got into the middle of it and they were fighting and maybe dying. And that didn't scare him, not really. But he had expected, if that day did indeed come, that they would fight _together. _ And heck, if death was looming, at least they could protect each other...that or die together. The thought that this is no longer probable sits ill with him.

"I didn't want him to see me cry," she confides, finally pulling her sobs under control. "I didn't want to ruin the night..."

"Well you sure ruined mine," he manages after a beat, his voice dry and hollow.

"His chances aren't...good...over there are they?" The thought sends her shoulders shaking again. "I don't know what I'm going to do..." she moans, "I love him. I love him and he's leaving and..."

She sounds so desperately fragile and he can hardly bear to hear the grief in her words. He didn't want to think about it, about her and about the war and least of all about Stefan.

He stands up abruptly. "I'm not drunk enough for this," he says. But then the world tips to the side, as if to make fun of his words.

"Please don't tell me that you're going to get another drink," Elena comments, glancing up at him.

"Maybe," he retorts, the world righting itself. He might be a little off balance, but as long as he is feeling like _this_, he isn't drunk enough for his standards.

Elena pulls herself to her feet at his words. "It's late, Damon," she says carefully. "How about you just go to bed?"

"What are you, my mother?" he snaps. _She's so...so...self-righteous_, he thinks angrily. _First she ruins what was left of my good humor and then she thinks she can decide wether I have another drink..._

"Wasn't that what you were doing before?" she asks.

Right. He had forgotten about that, about the whole sleeping for a month thing. And to think...that had only been minutes ago...

"Fine," he counters bitterly. "Fine. I'll go to bed." He glances down the hallway, searching for his room number. He had been all too sure of it just moments ago...but now all the numbers of swimming.

He takes a step down to the left, squinting at the room number closest to him.

Behind him he hears a sigh.

"221," he hears Elena say. "You're in Stefan's room, right? 221."

_Self-righteous indeed! _he thinks. _Stefan can have her! And to think that I was even remotely interested..._

Room 221 is only the next one down. He wasn't too far off, after all. Right before he opens the door, he finds himself turning back. Elena's returned to her seat against the wall; her arms have returned to their earlier position, wrapped around her knees as if to shied herself from the world. For a moment, he considers saying something else to her, even though he's not quite sure what...if he would be angry or sad or apologetic, but she says something first.

"I'm sorry," she tells him. "I'm sorry, Damon."

He laughs shortly. "Nothing to be sorry for," he tells her. She only stares at him. He should go into the room, but he can't. Not with her eyes holding onto him like that.

"Goodnight," she whispers softly, finally.

"Goodnight, Elena," he finds himself saying in response, his words much more tender than they should be. Her eyes drop at his goodbye, and suddenly, he can move again.

When he shuts the door, leaving her out alone, he expects the uncomfortable sensation she had made him feel to drift away.

But it stays, right underneath his skin. He had told her absolutely nothing at all, and yet he feels as if she knows everything.

Absolutely everything.

*_So for those of you that continue to review...gosh I absolutely love to hear from you! You guys are the best :) For those that haven't reviewed yet... drop me a line! I'd appreciate any feedback. And of course to all those that have followed and favorited...you are dear to my heart as always. Hope this finds y'all in good spirits. Enjoy! *_


	5. Chapter 5: Goodbyes and Train Whistles

_**Chapter 5: Goodbyes and Train Whistles**_

_*So here's the next chapter guys...from now on I hope to continue with a once a week time frame. And as always, I own nothing!*_

Damon wishes that he doesn't have to be at the train station. Goodbyes have never been his strong suit, and he would rather be drowning away the slight hitch in his chest with alcohol than standing and holding one of Stefan's bags.

His dislike of the situation is making him pace, and even though he's tired of wearing out the same small piece of floor, he can't stop himself. Step, step, step, swivel...step, step, step, swivel...repeat. It's the only way to release at least some of the pent up energy surging right underneath his skin.

"Damon," Stefan says with an amused expression, "you're making me dizzy."

Damon tries to stop for a moment, mentally gluing his feet in place, but his toe still taps out an unsteady rhythm. He peers up ahead.

"Aren't they supposed to be boarding the train by now?" he asks. He takes a step forward, swearing underneath his breath when he trips over someone in the non-moving crowd. There's people and bags everywhere; the air is hot and sticky with the closeness of bodies and high strung emotions.

"Why?" Stefan asks. "Eager to get rid of me?" He chuckles a little.

Damon shoots him a glare before he starts pacing again. "Don't laugh at me, Stefan," he says darkly. "I might get angry, and I don't want to be angry with you before you leave."

Stefan looks at him with a knowing expression, his gaze deep and steady. In a flash, Damon is reminded of Elena, the way she had looked at him that night... It's a curse. He's surrounded by people who think they know him better than he knows himself.

"Stop looking at me like that," he mutters. "I'm just feeling a little bit impatient, that's all."

Someone bumps him from behind, sending him forward another stumbling step.

"And irritated," he adds under his breath. "Definitely irritated."

"I'm going to be fine, Damon," Stefan says softly.

"I didn't ask if you were going to be fine," Damon retorts, his words swift and sharp. Then, realizing the emotional transparency of his statement, he pulls on a smirk. "We all know that you'll be lost without me looking after you."

"Since when have _you_ ever looked after _me?" _Stefan snorts. "I'm pretty sure it's the other way around."

"You wish," Damon grins, slapping Stefan on the back hard enough to send him careening off balance. Then, with a sudden realization, he glances around.

"Where's Elena?" he questions. He had expected her to be here...Stefan being her newly discovered love and all.

Stefan stiffens. "I asked her not to come," he answers quietly, his hand tightening on the shoulder strap of his bag.

"You asked her _not_ to come? Why in the world would you do that?"

"I don't know," Stefan shrugs, but his words fall short of nonchalant. Actually, he looks closer to sickly regretful. He shuffles his feet around on the ground, avoiding Damon's gaze.

"And every time I think I understand you," Damon comments with a mystified expression, shaking his head.

"Yeah, well..." Stefan trails off uncertainly. "Damon, I have a favor to ask you, actually."

"The answer's no," Damon cuts in quickly.

"What?" Stefan looks thrown off for a beat. You usually don't deny a soldier of war a favor, after all.

"Gawd Stefan," Damon starts laughing. "You're so completely gullible. Of course. Whatever. Just as long as it's nothing like the _last_ favor..." He looks at Stefan pointedly.

It takes a moment for Damon's words to register, when when they do, Stefan lets out a guffaw. "Why'd you even bring that up?" he gasps in between bouts of laughter.

"To remind you that you owe me. Big time."

"Yeah, yeah, well this is nothing like the last time," Stefan says, still chuckling.

"...And to get you to loosen up a little," Damon continues. He looks Stefan up and down, as if sizing him up. "You always have been too serious."

"I'm going off to war Damon!" Stefan says incredulously, his laughter disappearing as swiftly as it had came. "Don't you think I get an excuse to be a little somber?"

Damon just shrugs, flashing his classic half smile. "It's never too late to start cutting loose," he admonishes playfully.

Stefan sighs in exasperation. "I suppose you don't want to hear my favor then?"

"I told you I would," Damon says innocently, ignoring Stefan's obvious annoyance . "Ask away."

"I just wanted to ask you to look after Elena while I'm gone."

For just a split second, Damon hesitates. He's not even sure why, exactly, but a feeling of something close to unease had flashed through him at Stefan's words. He pushes it away as quickly as he can, sighing in exasperation to cover up his moment of hesitation. "I suppose I can find enough good will left in me to look after your annoying girlfriend," he allows.

Stefan shakes his head, about to speak, but then someone shoves them from behind. The crowd of people starts to surge forward as a train whistle cuts through the murmur of the crowd, its call sharper than the side of a knife.

"I better go," Stefan hedges. He pauses for a moment, fighting against the forward motion of the crowd, as if waiting for Damon to speak, but when he is greeted by nothing but silence, he just moves to grab the bag Damon's holding off his shoulder.

"Take care of yourself, Damon," he says seriously, grabbing his other bag off the ground as he turns to leave.

"Wait," Damon says at the last moment, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him back around. "You be careful, you hear? Make sure you make it home all in one piece...for Elena."

"I'll do my best," Stefan promises solemnly. "But if anything happens..." his jaw hardens, "I want you to tell her, Damon."

Damon shakes his head quickly. "There's no way in hell I'm doing that favor, Stefan," he says with a wry smile that's just one sliver too serious, "so you better just suck it up and stop over-dramatizing everything. You're going to be just fine without making me swear all the overly scripted death-bed promises."

Stefan just looks at him. Damon knows what he's thinking, that he wants to hear something else, but Damon just _can't_. He can't possibly say anything more...

Until he does. One simple word...a question.

"Okay?" he implores. And he's asking a very different question when he asks it, a question more serious than he can bear to utter out loud. He's not asking Stefan to confirm an end to the over-dramatizing...or to promises...

Stefan is still standing there, unsure of what to say. Damon knows he understands the real question, and that he doesn't want to make a promise he can't keep.

"Okay?" Damon urges again. All he has to do is say it, he thinks desperately. He just needs to hear Stefan say it.

"Okay," Stefan agrees. "Okay, Damon."

Damon lets out the breath that he had been holding. "Good," he says, "now you better be careful. Don't shoot down too many planes or before you know it you'll be coming home and they'll be declaring you a hero of war. I can't have you one-upping me and all."

"Got it," Stefan says with a shadow of a smile. "I'll see you when it's all over, Damon."

Damon nods his head just once, and then the crowd swallows Stefan up in one swift moment, leaving Damon marooned in a sea of people, feeling things he doesn't want to feel.

...

Why did he tell her not to come? He mentally curses himself as he sits in his train seat, staring out the window. He had just wanted...

Well he's not quite sure what he wanted. But it's too late now. It just would have been nice to hold her one last time, to see her big brown eyes shining up at him...They had said goodbye back at the hotel, but that feels like life times ago.

He looks out the window again, glimpsing Damon as he turns to leave. It would have been good for him too, he thinks. Good for him and Elena to have each other. Damon needed at least _one_ person to keep him under control, keep him from going off the deep end. Stefan had seen it happen one too many times since Catherine...

And he knows Elena can look after herself just fine, but he's still worried all the same. He feels uneasy, as if he is abandoning her, although he knows thats not true. It wasn't like he wanted to leave her...

Then he sees her. It's a miracle that he does, but he picks her out in an instant. She standing almost right underneath his train window, talking urgently to someone beside her. Apparently the answer is not to her liking, because then she turns to stare at the already boarded train in horror.

"Elena!" he calls. "Elena!" He pounds on the train window, but she doesn't seem to notice.

He can't help himself; he starts smiling. The man sitting next to him turns and looks at him with part confusion.

Stefan realizes what he had wanted in one swift movement.

"She loves me," he breathes with happiness. "She loves me!"

In one swift moment, she had confirmed that the past few weeks had been reality. That they were as tangible as he had wanted them to be.

Now he just has to make it home for her.

_*To my lovely reviewers: I can not thank you enough for your kind comments and your feedback. You are absolutely phenomenal! And thank you as well to all my followers and favoriters... this would not happen without you. To all those that haven't reviewed yet: please do :) Let me know what you think and help keep me motivated...I might need some of that this next week. Till next time :) *_


	6. Chapter 6: Off Kilter

**Chapter 6: Off-Kilter**

_*So here's the next chapter. As always...I own nothing!*_

When their ship pulls into Pearl Harbor, all the girls can see is ships and ships of sailors. For what seems like miles.

"This is so exciting," Elena breathes, looking around her in awe. The Hawaiian sun glints off the blue water below them, making it glitter and sparkle enticingly.

Caroline grins naughtily. "Well look at that," she says, waving flirtily at the guys on neighboring ships as they pass them by. Their catcalls and hollers pass over the water easily as they spot the incoming nurses.

"You know there's more than one hundred ships on Pearl Harbor?" Rebekah comments, eyes trained on the rows and rows before them.

"And how many sailors per ship?" April pipes up, smiling sweetly across the ship railing at another group of men. She waves shyly, her brown curls blown backwards behind her by the breeze.

"Well it depends on what kind of ship it is," Rebekah says, "but let's say on average...two thousand?"

"Yeah but then there's the flyers, the marines, the base personnel..." Caroline adds.

"Wait what?" April gasps, taken aback. "I'm still working on the sailors!"

"Girls," Elena chuckles at their conversation, "I think the odds are in your favor."

"Yeah," Caroline laughs, "Like four-thousand to one."

Rebekah pushes towards the railing. "See you on the beach boys!" she calls out.

Another round of catcalls ensues.

April giggles, pushing up against the rail next to Caroline. "This is paradise!" she announces.

"Of course it is," Elena smiles, getting caught up in the excitement. "We're in Hawaii!"

...

The hospital is almost completely empty. Elena looks at the rows and rows of empty beds...white sheets... The bright sun streams through multiple panes of large picture windows, making the room look less like like it belongs in a hospital and more like it belongs in a retreat.

"See," Caroline turns and whispers toward her, "I told you so." She bounces up and down in her spot with excitement before turning around to face forward once more.

"As you can see," the veteran nurse intones, "no patients." She sweeps her hand around the room before turning back to them.

"Now I'll go show you the bar."

_Dear Stefan,_

_ I hope this letter finds you soon. I understand that the mail will take a few weeks to arrive, so I guess I'll just have to be patient in waiting for my reply. We arrived at Pearl Harbor the other day...you wouldn't believe the hospital. There was maybe one or two patients at the most, non-serious injuries, and only one doctor in! From what I can see, our job is going to consist more of the general upkeep of the hospital than with taking care of patients. This also seems to mean that we will have plenty of time to ourselves...Caroline's pretty excited about that one, as you can imagine. After showing us the hospital, the nurse immediately showed us a bar. You get the general picture._

_ I talked with Damon today. He met a bunch of other pilots on the first day, and said pretty much the same thing as I did... There's lots of free time to go around here in Hawaii. He said to tell you that you were missing out on a bunch of dinking around and test flights, and that he'd already found more than a far share amount of time to spend at the bar. Imagine that._

_ Hawaii is even more beautiful than I pictured. The skies are bluer than I've ever seen before, and the water is warm and perfect. I wish you could be here to see it. Is England to your liking? I hear it's wet and chilly there this time of year...you'll have to tell me all about it..._

**Several Weeks Later**

_ Dear Stefan, _she writes with a flair of her pencil. _I hope this letter finds you in good health. I can't help but think about you constantly..._

She bites her lip in concentration, waving her pencil in the air as she attempts to convey her train of thought. _It feels as if..._

"Elena's writing _another_ one of her letters again," she hears a voice say teasingly from behind. "What is that...the third one today?"

The words on the edge of her mind fly away in an instant at the sound of the familiar voice. Elena throws down her pencil in playful disgust, turning in her chair.

"Caroline Forbes," she scolds, "can't I ever get a moments worth of peace here?"

"C'mon," Caroline laughs, "You can't blame me." She waves her head at the window, "It's beautiful out there...and April and Rebekah are both working their shift at the hospital...and so the only friend I've got right now is _you._"

Elena cocks an eyebrow at her.

"Not that you're not _amazing_ and all," Caroline teases, "but you're writing _letters, _Elena. You know how much fun it is to sit and watch someone write letters? About as much fun as watching paint dry."

"Stefan enjoys my letters," Elena replies, glancing down at the desk. There, next to her half-finished letter, sits his latest reply. She feels tempted to pick it up and read it again, but not with Caroline there.

"He enjoys _reading_ your letters," Caroline corrects her. "Not sitting and watching you write them."

"Okay okay," Elena sighs, ripping her attention from where the scrawl of his pencil had written _Dear Elena..._ "Point taken."

"So..." Caroline says, twirling her hair around her finger, "will you _please, _pretty _please_ at least go outside with me? We could go to the beach..."

Elena levels her a teasingly serious gaze at the sound of her voice. "And pick up hot guys? I'm not single, if you haven't noticed Caroline."

"But _I_ am," Caroline smiles slyly.

Elena tries to remain strong, but then Caroline flashes her the puppy dog eyes. Elena's serious look doesn't last but a second underneath Caroline's finagling.

"Fine!" Elena bursts out with a laugh. "Fine. You win Caroline. As always."

"And as it should be," Caroline agrees. "Grab your swimming suit Elena. We are going _out!" _

Her look of pure excitement is enough to make Elena chuckle again. She gets up of her chair, folding her letter and putting into an unsealed envelope for safe keeping. She'll have to finish it later.

...

She and Caroline are heading back from the beach when she sees Damon's leanly muscled figure. He's walking across the base next to Tyler, and at the sight of him, she feels a quick, almost uneasy feeling flash through her stomach. Before she can analyze it, it disappears as quickly as it came, but she's struck by the fact that she always feels a little off kilter every time she sees him around the base. They had talked a few times, had hung out once or twice because they shared mutual friends...but that quick flash of feeling has occurred at every occasion with an annoying regularity. It probably just happens because he's such an unpredictable ass, she thinks...always throwing her off by his odd and sometimes smarting remarks.

She tries to shake off her thoughts as she catches him studying her while they approach, and she flashes him a warm smile in hopes that it will camouflage her confusion.

"Well fancy running into two soldiers of war on a navy base," Caroline jokes, bubbling happily as they approach the two men. "You guys off duty?"

"As much as we'll ever be," Tyler replies. Caroline giggles, giving him an up and down glance with a flick of her eyes. Her hand comes up absent mindely to run through her hair. Elena resists the urge to give her friend a sly smile. Caroline is so transparent...she's obviously interested. Not that Elena can blame her; Tyler is attractive in a sort of classic way, his broad form muscled to the max and his skin a nice, dark tan. But she just doesn't see the appeal; Damon's obviously the more attractive of the two.

At the thought, a slight blush comes to her cheeks. Where had that came from?

"Is someone going to introduce us?" Caroline says with a fake pout, interrupting Elena's thoughts.

"That's Tyler," Elena quickly interjects. "He's part of Stefan and Damon's outfit."

"Mmm," Caroline makes a noise of understanding. She's staring at Tyler blatantly now, and he doesn't seem to mind.

"He's not a piece of meat," Damon comments with an amused expression. As if surprised that he's still there, both Caroline and Tyler turn to face Damon with slightly shocked expressions.

"What?" Caroline asks, confused.

Damon only smirks. "Never mind," he says with a wave of his hand. "Too much of an intellectual observation for you to understand, Blondie."

Elena lets out a short burst of laughter despite herself, quickly trying to smother it in an attempt to hide her amusement from Caroline.

Caroline, of course, is oblivious to Elena's betrayal, instead glaring intently at Damon before turning back towards Tyler.

"Is he always such an ass? Or is it just around me?" she asks Tyler.

Tyler laughs. "Always," he allows.

"I have a reputation to live up to," Damon says smugly. "Can't let the relatives down, now can I?"

"Relatives? Damon that doesn't even make sense," Caroline says crossly. "I'm sure your relatives don't appreciate the fact that you have a reputation for being a complete jerk."

"I don't even have any living relatives," Damon replies with a satisfied smile.

Caroline makes a noise of frustration, throwing her hands up into the air with disgust.

"Elena," she whirls around, her blond hair spinning out behind her, "will you please tell Damon to stop acting like a complete idiot?"

"Like she could make me do anything," Damon tells her. "What are you Elena...like five foot nothing?"

She's actually a little offended by this remark. "I am not that short Damon," she retorts. "And what makes you think that I couldn't make you behave?"

"If you wanted to _make_ me behave you'd have to resort to manipulation," Damon says. "I'm pretty sure you're not capable of anything of that sort."

"And why would you think that?"

"Because you're a goody two shoes," he says calmly, the corner of his mouth tipping upward.

"And why in the world do you care?" Elena exclaimed, just about ready to join Caroline's Kill-Damon-Salvatore-With-Only-A-Glance party, when she's interrupted.

'Why don't we all go out?" Tyler asks Caroline with a smile, oblivious to the argument ensuing between them. "You guys are free as well, right?"

Elena's eyes instantly widen.

"No, no..." Elena begins, "I have to..."

Damon turns to Tyler with a sly smile.

"What a _marvelous_ idea," he drawls lazily. He winks at Elena. "I was just telling Elena how see needed to lose her _shoes_ once in a while.

Elena's about to snap back a clever reply, but Caroline cheery voice cuts right over top of her.

"Sure!" she quickly agrees. "Elena and I weren't planning on doing anything else anyway, right?" She turns to Elena, begging her with her eyes.

Elena shifts, uncomfortable underneath the sudden spotlight Caroline's throwing her under. "Well..." she begins uncertainly.

"As long as Damon agrees to _behave,"_ Caroline says pointedly with another glare shot at Damon.

Damon throws his hands in the air. "I'm making no promises," he warns her.

Elena takes a step towards Caroline, grabbing her by the elbow and drawing her backwards, turning their faces so Damon and Tyler can't see.

"Caroline," she whispers urgently, "I really don't know.."

"Elena," Caroline begs, "you've been absolutely no fun lately. I know this will kind of stick you with Damon, but he's Stefan's best friend. You should be able to deal with him right? I mean..." she shoots another appreciate look towards Tyler, "for me, please?"

Elena sighs in frustration, having absolutely no desire to go out at the moment. She thinks of her letter, still lying half unwritten on their desk back in the room. She snorts. After tonight, she'll probably finish it by lamenting about her terrible night and recapping what an asshole Damon was. She had done this once before after a rather exhausting encounter with Damon, but Stefan had only been confused.

_Didn't you say you trusted him completely? _He wrote. _And now you hate him? Not that I don't understand of course...he can be quite...overbearing...you just have to be forgiving with him..._

Stefan's confusion had only served to make her more confused as well. Damon seemed to make her flip between understanding and frustration in all of two seconds, that was for sure.

Which is why she doesn't feel like going out with him tonight. He only serves to mess with her head.

Caroline, however, is still staring at her expectedly, begging full out with her eyes.

"Fine," Elena whispers harshly into her ear. "But you owe me."

Caroline squeals with delight. "Well boys," she smiles, turning to face Damon

and Tyler once more, "Elena and I are going to go freshen up...but then we'll be off!"

Damon quirks a smile at her.

This is going to be great, she thinks sarcastically. Just great.

_*So yeah, this took a couple more days than my usual to post...for that I'm sorry. I just kind of got carried away writing the next scene and had to backtrack for this one. And guys, let me tell you, I'm excited for you to read the next scene! I loosely based it on the Bree's Bar scene from Season 1 of TVD...so pretty please read and review. And maybe if you review lots and lots, I'll post the next chapter sooner :) Which is manipulation, I know, but I have a goal in mind. Sometime or another I want to reach 100 reviews...and we have a lot to go before we get to that number! But it's a goal I've always wanted to reach, so if you feel like helping me out, drop a review. And as always, I love and appreciate those of you that have already reviewed, followed, or favorited. May this week find you healthy and happy where ever ya'll are! O and sorry for placing Caroline with Tyler...Klaus just didn't work well in this scene, but don't worry. We don't really see too much of Tyler after this...if at all.*_


	7. Chapter 7: The Definition of a Good Time

**Chapter 7: The Definition of a Good Time**

_*So this scene is based very loosely on the scene in Bree's bar in TVD...see if you can spot the lines I stole :)*_

"Well she's having a good time," Elena notes dryly, swirling her drink around in her glass. As if on cue, Caroline lets out another loud and obnoxious burst of laughter. Then her voice drops down to something symbolizing a whisper; Tyler leans in closer to hear her and a matching grin forms on his face.

"She's having a good time because she's _drunk_ Elena," Damon notes. "And you haven't even touched your drink." He raises his eyebrow at her as he glances at her mostly full glass.

"So that's it now? You have to be drunk to have a good time?"

"Maybe if your you," Damon says with a sly smile. "Definitely not if your me. I have a good time _all_ the time, if you haven't noticed."

"I've noticed," she says sarcastically.

"Well someone's grumpy," Damon teases. "Is it because _Elena_ didn't get to write her ten-page letter to Stefan today?"

He's talking to her like she's an idiot. She is _so _not in the mood for his teasing.

"Lay off, Damon," she says, glaring down into her glass. "Besides it's not exactly smiled upon when a _lady _gets drunk."

"Why should you care what these people think?" Damon waves his hand around the establishment. "I certainly don't." He chuckles a little, glancing down a couple seats. "Caroline definitely doesn't."

Elena watches as Caroline tilts her head back with laughter, following Damon's gaze right to where the neckline of Caroline's red dress is dipping down dangerously low.

"Seriously Damon!" Elena exclaims as she realizes what's holding his attention. She shakes her head in disgust. "I am just not in the mood tonight."

"Hmm," Damon says, sitting back and studying her with a wry smile. "I have seen sad Elena, normal Elena, happy Elena, and I-Want-To-Save-The-World Elena, but I must admit... I have never seen grumpy Elena before. Something get stuck where it shouldn't have?"

His eyes glint mischievously at her.

And that's when she picks up her glass and downs the whole entire thing in one massive chug.

Damon's half smile breaks into the real thing. "Dang girl," he calls out.

She slams the glass down on the table, choking a little as she does, and then beckons the waiter over.

"I need another one," she calls out. The waiter gives her a look, but then he nods and quickly whisks off her glass. In seconds, he has arrived carrying it again, now brim full. She picks it up and downs it...for the second time.

Damon's eyes widen. "Are you sure you don't want to...I don't know...slow down?'

"Your the one who told me I needed to be drunk," Elena shoots back.

"Duly noted," Damon admits. "All right then, if you're going to get drunk, then I suppose that I might as well too." He finishes off his glass in one sip, slamming it on the table in the same manner as Elena had done seconds earlier, flashing her a rowdy grin with his mocking gesture.

"Damon," Elena points out, resisting the urge to laugh, "you're always drunk."

"Correction, I _drink_ whenever possible. That does not mean I'm always _drunk. _In fact, I'm hardly ever...I can't get as drunk as you'll be off just those two glasses."

Elena makes a face at him, slipping off the stool at their table. "No way," she tells him. "My tolerance is like..." she hops upward, "way...up...here!" She spins around in a circle, giving him a smile and then laughing at his dubious expression.

She waves down another waiter, motioning to her glass and Damon's before turning back to him.

"Well s_omeone's _having mood swings," Damon comments.

"I'm trying to have _fun, _Damon. Something you just said that I couldn't have without a drink or two. Well guess what, I am so proving you wrong!"

"I think you're proving me right," he tells her, but she doesn't seem to catch the cleverness of his remark.

He takes a large drink out of his now-full glass.

"I think I have a lot of catching up to do," he mutters as Elena proceeds to twirl around for the second time as she takes large sized sips out of her glass as well.

"What was that?" she asks, her voice way louder than necessary.

He shakes his head at her with an amused smile.

"Let's dance," she then blurts out.

"Dance?"

"Yes, you can dance, can't you?" She giggles and holds out her hand for him impatiently.

He studies her for just a moment before breaking into laughter as well. "Elena, I've got moves you've never seen before," he tells her, taking her hand and sliding off his chair.

"Now make sure you're a gentleman, Damon," she warns as she pulls him out on the floor. "Otherwise I'll have to write Stefan and tell him to kick your ass."

He laughs at her blatant language. "I must say Elena, alcohol really loosens your tongue."

She gives him a glare, but there's no venom in it. She lost all anger with the second drink.

"Fine fine," he agrees. "I'll behave. But I'll have you know that the only reason Stefan would be able to kick my ass is if I let him win."

"I'll see it when I believe it," she tells him with a grin. "Now get dancing. I'm still waiting to see those moves. Or are those just a figment of your imagination as well?"

"Oh no," he tells her. "Just you wait." He reaches out and grabs her, dipping her backwards in one swift moment.

...

Caroline looks over at Elena. She's giggling loudly as Damon marches her across the floor is some sort of bizarre dance move.

"First time I've seen her loosen up in a while," Caroline grins. "Think it has to be the alcohol. Otherwise who in their right mind would be able to have fun with Damon Salvatore?"

Tyler laughs at this. "Looks like she might be developing a little crush," he tells her, as Elena proceeds to laugh... again.

"Elena?" Caroline says, surprised. "No...no crush. She's in love with Stefan, remember?"

But even after she says this, Caroline eyes Elena warily. She isn't flirting with Damon necessarily, and any girl in their right mind would be if they were dancing with a guy that looked like _that._... No, she is definitely still in love with Stefan...

But that's not to say that she doesn't at least _like_ Damon, despite every off hand comment she had made to convince Caroline otherwise.

Or maybe she really does hate him as she says she does and Elena's just really drunk...or they just have good chemistry...

And then she stops herself. "I think I'm getting dizzy," she says to Tyler.

...

"Okay I need a break," Elena says finally, panting from all their dancing. "I need a break, definitely. And my head's spinning."

Damon grins at her. "I'm just too much for you to handle," he teases.

She giggles. "No that is definitely _not_ it. I think it's the alcohol..."

"Really?" he says with a playfully serious face. "I never guessed."

"Oh just shut it," she smiles at him, hitting him lightly. She then steps towards the booth, intending to sit down for a while, but she stumbles a step as she does so.

"Here," a voice says from beside her. She turns, expecting Damon but seeing another guy entirely. He's gripping her arm, holding her up. She looks at him with a confused expression.

"Do I know you?" she asks uncertainly, still smiling in the meanwhile.

"No," the man shakes his head. "Just saw you start to fall...thought I'd help." He smiles at her. It's a nice smile, a helpful one.

She goes to thank him...

...

So he might have had a little more than he should have had to drink between dances with Elena. Not that he's drunk exactly, just that he had drank past the point where he could control his rather..impulsive...urges. It's a fine line, and he usually avoids passing it except in close company.

But Elena just tempts him to do things he shouldn't do. He probably shouldn't have even went out with her tonight... They hadn't done anything wrong, at least not as far as he's concerned. Elena's completely in love with Stefan...he _knows _that. He's lucky she had decided to view him as a _friend_ tonight... in past conversations she wavered quickly between that and treating him as more of a common, and slightly offensive, acquaintance. But the fact is, spending time with her made him feel...different. Strange in ways he couldn't explain.

And when that lousy guy grabs her arm and flashes her a sleazy grin, he can't stop the cool fire that starts to blaze inside of him.

"Excuse me." He taps the guys arm.

The man turns around. "Can I help you?" he asks politely. Mockingly, as far as Damon's concerned.

"Hmm," Damon taps a finger to his chin, taking a step back in order to give the guy a full up and down, "I'm not exactly sure..." His words are slow, almost predatory in their nature.

The man raises his eyebrows.

"I guess I was just wondering if you could answer a question for me," Damon finally says. He smiles broadly, as if to ease any of the guy's misgivings.

The man's eyes narrow; he's obviously not buying Damon's sweet act. "Yes?"

"What _exactly_ do you thing you're doing?" Damon's eyes darken as he motions to Elena.

Elena seems to finally caught on to what's happening. "Damon?" she asks carefully.

"I was just helping the little lady out," the man says smoothly. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Why yes, I believe there is..."

And, still smiling, he proceeds to punch the guy straight in the face.

...

Blood starts spraying on the floor; the man tumbles down right before her, almost knocked out cold. Elena stares at the scene in horror, before coming to her senses and dropping down beside him.

"Are you okay?" she asks desperately. "Sir?" The man moans and moves slightly; she quickly moves to wipe some of the blood off his face.

"Aww he's fine," a voice above her says coldly. She looks up; Damon's standing there, his cocky smile still pasted across his face. He looks sickly proud as he glances down at the man's crumpled body.

"What where you thinking?" she snarls, disgusted by his blatant attitude.

His brows furrow at her words, as if he's honestly confused by her statement. Does he really feel _no _remorse?

"Elena," Damon reasons, "What in the hell do you mean? He _deserved_ it!"

Everyone is staring at them now; Elena can feel eyes boring into her back.

"Deserved it? He was helping me!"

She looks at the poor man on the floor; he's holding one hand up to his head now and blood is still gushing out of his nose.

"I'm so sorry sir," she stumbles over the words. "So sorry..." The man gives another moan in response. Her heart twists at the sight.

She looks back up. The sight of his expression is enough to make her sick. "What the hell is wrong with you, Damon?" she asks, her words half anger and half cry.

He takes a step backwards at the pure emotion in her voice; if he had been anyone else, she would have said she had seen a quick flash of grief cross his face. But he is Damon, and the next moment, that carefully crafted mask he wears slips back into place.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Elena?"

She glares at him, but before she can summon a reply, two men walk over. The first is tall and wide, his arms deeply muscled and burly. The second is slightly leaner, but heavily toned as well. When they arrive in front of Damon, they pull to a stop.

"I think you need to leave," the burly one says stonily.

Damon doesn't move an inch, standing his ground. "Is that so?" he asks, narrowing his eyes...

*_So I got a few very sweet reviews last time from you guys so I decided to post earlier as promised. Gosh, you guys are the best. I don't deserve all you wonderful people...I appreciate all your reviews, favorites, and follows! The amount of reviews is dropping off a little though, so please, don't hesitate to drop me a line and tell me what you think. There's nothing I love more than hearing your feedback. :) Till next time! ...Oh and sorry for stopping right in the middle of things. There wasn't a good spot to leave off...so review if you want to see the other half of the scene sooner!*_


	8. Chapter 8: So Incredibly Stupid

**Chapter 8: So Incredibly Stupid**

_*this picks up right where the last one left off...and as always, I don't own anything*_

...

_She glares at Damon, but before she can summon a reply, two men walk over. The first is tall and wide, his arms deeply muscled and burly. The second is slightly leaner, but heavily toned as well. When they arrive in front of Damon, they pull to a stop._

_ "I think you need to leave," the burly one says stonily._

_ Damon doesn't move an inch, standing his ground. "Is that so?" he asks, narrowing his eyes._

"And you too, miss," Burly says, motioning to where Elena is still folded on the ground.

"Wait...what?" Elena questions, her head whipping upward in surprise. "No, you don't understand, I'm not with him!" She points at Damon angrily. "In fact, I'm pretty sure at the moment that I hate him, see he's just..." She feels a strong hand encircle her arm, tugging her upwards. She yelps in surprise, her words cutting off mid-sentence.

"Sorry miss," the man holding her shrugs. "Rules are rules."

Damon stiffens at his words. "Get your hands off her," he threatens, taking a step forwards in a gracefully quick manner. His voice carries an undertone of darkness that is enough to make Elena shudder. For a second, Elena thinks the second man, the one holding her in his iron grip, won't listen, but then his hand releases her.

"Then get out," the burly man spits. "Now."

The man behind her gives her a little push, but in her intoxicated state it feels more like a shove, and it sends her tripping forward over the arm of the half-unconscious man on the floor. For a second, she thinks she is going down, but then arms surround her, pulling her back up. She recognizes Damon immediately, sagging into his support. His arms are so tense; she can feel the pure rage flowing through him. He turns to look at the two men, and she knows that if she doesn't do something there will be hell to pay. For all of them.

"Just go Damon," she implores. He hesitates for a moment, heat still pumping through him. "Damon," she says softly. "Damon look at me." He turns to her, and his eyes are so completely blue that she almost forgets that she is terribly angry with him. "Let's just go," she pleads again.

At that, he steadies her on her feet. His hand hovers near her arm, as if he's going to help her all the way out the building. She doesn't push him away, doesn't let him know how incredibly angry she is with him. If he thinks she needs help, he will follow her out. So she lets his hand stay there, takes a step forward in order to draw him away from the impending fight with the two men, lets him balance her from time to time as they walk towards the back door.

When they finally hit the warm air outdoors, she jerks away as quickly as possible.

"I don't need your help," she states angrily, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Oh really?" Damon says, his words dry. "Cause it seemed a hell of a lot like you needed it in there."

"You caused that, not me! I wouldn't have needed any help if it wasn't for you!" She glares at him, wishing her words had enough power to wipe that look of his straight from his face.

"You think that was my fault?"

"Of course it was!" she exclaims shrilly. "God Damon, do you have to ruin _everything?" _

He stares at her. For a moment, he is as lost for words as she has ever seen him. She is still filled with a desperate need to get rid of all the anger in her soul, to continue her torrent of unforgivable words...but with just that one glance into his eyes, she is also filled with a need to take it all back.

Finally, he recovers himself. "Well forgive me, dearest Elena," he says sarcastically, "for trying to protect your freaking pathetic _life."_

He goes to turn away, and she's perfectly willing to let him just leave her there, standing in the back alley of the bar filled with frustration, but the opening of the door freezes them both. Elena feels a sinking in her stomach as the burly man comes stepping out, accompanied by the man that Damon had punched earlier, who, despite Damon's blow, seems relatively recovered.

The burly man turns to her. He looks so frightfully serious; she wants to shrink away from his gaze. "You might want to leave, miss," he warns her.

She turns to Damon immediately, a question on her face, her lips pursed with a worry that even her anger can't hide. His eyes are darker than she has ever seen them before, but he tilts his head towards her and actually _agrees _with the man's warning.

"Yes, I think you do, Elena. Go get Caroline and go home."

She feels a sinking sensation in her stomach. She knows what this means. Her heart flutters in her chest. Damon would probably be able to match anyone on any given day, but it's two against one. And if that wasn't enough to tip the odds, both the burly man and her helper from earlier are sober. Damon, although not drunk, is at least intoxicated. His reactions will be slowed at best.

Not good. Not good.

But she shouldn't care right? Not when she wants to curse his name over and over. But...she bites her lip. She can't allow herself to just _leave_ him here.

"We were just going home...weren't we, Damon?" she says urgently. "We'll be out of your way, promise...I really am sorry about earlier..."

Burly pushes past her as if she isn't there. Damon clenches his hands into fists.

"You and I going to finish this, are we?" Damon grins, shifting his weight from foot to foot tauntingly.

"No," Burly replies shaking his head, "Me and my brother over there," he points to the man Damon punched and Elena's eyes widen with the realization, "are going to finish this. You, my friend, are not going to be finishing _anything._"

Damon just smiles sweetly. "We'll see about that."

Elena turns to run inside. She'll get Tyler, drunk as he is he might be of some help...

But just then the second guy, the one that had gripped her arm earlier, comes out. His frame completely blocks the door.

"You can go home," he tells her seriously. "But not back into the bar."

Her breath comes shorter then. "My friend's in there!" she gasps out. She makes a step to the left, hoping to sneak underneath his arm, but he just moves to block her.

He shrugs. "Sorry miss."

Panic starts to flash before her eyes. Not good...this is so not good...

Behind her punches have started to fly. She whirls around, attempting to run towards the fight. If she gets into the middle of things, they'll _have _to stop. She makes little progress before she is pulled backward by the same exact hand that had held her earlier. This time she struggles against his grasp, desperate to free herself.

"Let me go!" she shrieks.

"What did I say," a disgustingly warm voice breathes on her, "about just going home?"

She watches in horror as the fight unfolds. Damon is strong, and brilliantly clever, but eventually he starts to lose. What had started out as a decently fair fight doesn't take long to decline. She flinches as Burly lands a punch that sends Damon snapping to the side. Damon uses the force to carry him out of the way of further abuse, his relative quickness allowing him to recover and to manage to land a blow to Burly's side. But this isn't a fair fight. In the time it takes for him to launch his attack on Burly, her helper from earlier creeps up and deals him another blow. This one sends Damon careening backwards. Something goes spattering across the ground, something even darker than the night. Blood.

Elena suddenly realizes she is sobbing now. She hates herself for crying, especially when compared to Damon's fearlessness, but the tears keep on coming. "Please just stop..." she is begging. "just stop..oh please..."

She sounds so vulnerable, so completely and utterly desperate. She doesn't understand herself, doesn't understand anything. She has slipped from reality into this, a place where she is drowning in the aching she feels whenever she sees another punch land onto the man before her. A place where she admires and hates and never can seem to catch her breath.

The fight continues on, and she watches with horror when the second guy holds Damon up, and Burly proceeds to hit him. Again and again and again. Damon's head slumps forward, his body arching in pain with every blow.

"Oh god," she's really crying now, "oh please oh please..."

Then he's completely on the ground and they're kicking him. _Kicking_ him. She can hear the thuds when their shoes fly into his side. She thinks she's going to be sick. This can't be happening. Not now. Not to Damon.

"Stop it!" she shrieks again, every emotion suddenly pouring out from her within the restrains of just those two words. The man that had helped her earlier pauses in his assault, the utter desperation in her plea suddenly and finally reaching him. Seeing his hesitance, she starts to speak as quickly as she can.

"Please, we're sorry!" she sobs. "_I'm_ sorry. He was just trying to protect me. I know that's not a good reason for what he did...but please," she's begging now, "just let him go. For me? My boyfriend, _his_ best friend, is gone and he was just looking out for me. That's all. Just protecting me."

She doesn't know where her words are coming from. She's not sure if she even believes them or not. She had been so angry that she hadn't been able to believe there was a reason behind his madness...

"He was _protecting _you?" the man spits. "From what? I was just trying to help you!"

"I know that," she says quietly. "I know...and thank you. But he didn't. Just please...don't you think it's enough? Can't it be enough? Please."

She's breathless, panting, and wringing her hands together. The man holds her gaze for a moment, and thankfully, whatever he sees there convinces him to step away.

"Come on, Ian," he says finally. "I think we're done here." The burly man pauses just a second longer beside Damon's crumpled form, and she holds her breath with the waiting. He gives Damon one last, crippling kick, enough to evict a moan from Damon and a cry from her, but then he too steps away. The man behind her drops her arm, setting her free. She barely dares to move as she watches the three men cluster together and open the back door.

The one named Ian turns back to her. "Tell your friend next time we won't be so generous," he warns. And then, one by one, they all disappear back into the bar. The second the door slams shut she goes running forward.

"Damon!" she cries out. "Oh God Damon." She can taste the salt water of her tears. She sinks down to her knees beside him...Her hands are shaking as she moves to smooth back his dark hair. It's full of blood. She picks up his head, pulling it into her lap and gently cradling it.

His eyes flicker as he looks up at her. She remembers how angry she was only fifteen minutes before, but that's completely gone now. She feels a sudden rush of feeling for the cocky, dark-haired man broken before her.

"Can you open your eyes? Damon? Damon look at me."

Her words are fearful and tender, and she almost doesn't recognize them as her own. She doesn't quite understand the madness that has settled over her, a madness both fueled and strained by worry.

He manages to pull his lids half open. He just stares at her confusedly for a moment, fighting to come to his senses. Apparently, as soon as he does, the look on her face is enough to compel him to speak. "You should've seen...the other...guy," he manages finally, the corner of his lips twitching up just slightly in an attempt at a smile. It ends up looking more like a grimace.

At this, she lets out another sob, this one mixed with a little bit of relief. "God Damon," she sobs. "You are so stupid. So incredibly stupid." The words are all affection. She continues to run her hand through his hair, not sure who's gathering more consolation from it, him or her.

He closes his eyes then, as if the effort of holding them open is just too much. If she hadn't been so close to him, she might have missed his next words; his lips barely move as he speaks them.

"I'm...not...sorry.." he breathes.

She feels her heart twist in her chest, and cuts him off before he can speak another word. She doesn't care what he is or isn't sorry for, maybe she will later but not right now. She doesn't even know if Damon's _capable_ of apologizing, but the fact that he's attempting to communicate anything in this state is enough to satisfy her.

"It's okay, Damon," she says. "It's okay." And she's forgiving him for earlier as she says it, forgiving him for the stupid impulsiveness that had made her so angry. She feels his body relax at her simple words, and she realizes suddenly that he's passed out. She knows she needs to go flag down Caroline and Tyler now; apparently they haven't even noticed her and Damon's absence. She needs to have Tyler help Damon to the car; she probably needs to take him to the hospital and get him stitched up.

She knows all this, but she stays there with Damon just a minute longer, his head fitting perfectly in her lap, the darkness complete around them. Her blood thrums with a million different emotions, tainted by the effects of alcohol, sent into overdrive by the brutality she had just witnessed. She thinks of what she said...about him protecting her. She thinks of her unfinished letter, about what she will write to Stefan...

_The night ended in disaster after all, just like I predicted. Damon..._

_ Stefan I don't know what happened, but it seems we got carried away in the bar..._

_ I hated him then and there, Stefan, just absolutely hated him..._

_ Stefan, it was so horrible. I was screaming and crying and I watched as they..._

No, none of those were right. Stefan didn't need to know everything. Not this time. For some reason, the horrible night she had envisioned had been crafted into something even more dark and personal and sacred. There are things about this night that she will breathe to no one, for a reason she can't explain, even to herself. No...her mind skips forward...Then the words start to form in her head. The right ones.

_I saw a different side of Damon tonight. It was only for a moment, but I think it's the same side of him that got me to immediately decide that I trusted him...I understand why you're friends with him now. Despite all his bluster, he really does care doesn't he? He's still as impulsive as always, but I'll make sure to look out for him for you._

_ Love, Elena._

_..._

_ *Okay so I love, love all my reviewers and any encouragement, thoughts, and advice you guys have given me is so appreciated! And of course I adore all you faithful followers and favoriters. So what did you think? Leave me a review and let me know!*_


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